A frosted plastic mug celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Minneapolis record store, The Electric Fetus, in 1988. It features a Soul Asylum illustration on one side. Owned by Karl Mueller, the bassist for Soul Asylum.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this mug in our collections database.

It is opening day for the Minnesota Twins today! Item of the Day presents this triangular pennant from the Minnesota Twins 1965 championship season. In that season the Twins went 102-60 and won the American League. The Twins would go on to lose the World Series to the LA Dodgers and their star pitcher Sandy Koufax. The 102 wins still stands as a team record.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this pennant in our collections database.

In 1905, Reverend Gilbert L. Wilson, Presbyterian minister and amateur ethnographer, started traveling to North Dakota to work among the tribes who lived at Standing Rock and Fort Berthold. During his travels, Wilson forged relationships with individuals, prompting him to be able to collect items for the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). While collecting these items for AMNH, Wilson began accruing an impressive personal collection of items, mainly from the Mandan and Hidatsa at Like-a-Fishhook Village near Fort Berthold.

After Wilson’s death in 1930, his personal collection was donated to the Minnesota Historical Society at his bequest. This donation included journals, reports, photographs, drawings, artifacts and wax cylinder recordings related to his travels to North Dakota. This plethora of information is now connected across collecting areas by including notes from Wilson’s reports that relate with specific objects in the collection. These objects will have an additional Notes section on Collections Online.

Wilson took great interest in many aspects of daily life at Like-a-Fishhook Village. The most notable is the agriculture of the Mandan and Hidatsa which is highlighted in Wilson’s book, Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden. Wilson learned the majority of the gardening techniques from Buffalo Bird Woman and her son, Goodbird.

Goodbird sitting under sliced squash drying on stage, 1916

While the collection has gardening tools such as a scapula bone hoe and deer antler rake, Wilson made sure to collect some of the foods that became a staple of life at Fort Berthold. This includes dried berry cakes, prairie turnips and squash.

Dried squash on string, 1916

The wonderful thing about this collection is that many of the objects, including the squash, appear in Wilson’s collections in multiple formats. There are photographs of squash being harvested, cut up and dried, the actual physical dried squash and the squash knife that was used to slice the squash. Having these collections in various formats along with the information that Wilson wrote, is a great way to connect to the daily activities of the Mandan and Hidatsa. One is able to learn about the tools, the process and the product of Mandan and Hidatsa life and agriculture.

Bone squash knife, 1916

Please use this link to view the objects in this collection and this link to learn more about Wilson’s reports and photographs.